Review #27: Suicidal Tendencies - Year of the Cycos (2009)

Suicidal Tendencies is a hardcore-punk-turned-thrash-metal band from California (in the U.S. of A.). They basically released a lot of albums throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and they released albums called "Free Your Soul and Save My Mind" and "Friends and Family, Vol. 2" before taking a really really long break. Well, they're back now, and they haven't lost very much steam.

It's not all Suicidal, though. This album has tracks from Mike Muir's other bands as well, such as Infectious Grooves and No Mercy. Hell, we might as well just call this a "Mike Muir" album since everything on this has Mike Muir in it. Anyways, on to the review...

1. No Mercy Fool"LET'S KICK THE DUST OFF THIS MOTHA!" -- next thing we know, it's a great metal song. This is basically just a really good song that rocks hard. Nice solos, awesome riff. It's just good. It feels good. Nice n' slow... until the ultra-fast midsection! That's where the thrash part kicks in.

2. Come AliveThey made a music video for this one. Starts with some nice slap-bass. "I'M ALIVE!!", screams Mike. This is a fast song. A lot of funky-soundin' guitar leads, here. The first half of the song is more metal-based, but the second half is more hardcore-ish.

3. Cyco Side of the BrainThis one's kinda weird. It's a funk-metal song. Most of the vocals are rapped, here. Not bad, but not my favorite track on the album either.

4. Life's Longer Than Just One DayThis one is great. An anthem against false authority and propaganda and a celebration of the fact that life is often long. The first part of the song has a beautiful acoustic guitar riff, but about a minute into the song, it gets heavier and slightly faster. One of the most truly awesome songs to come out in awhile.

5. It's the Groove... Don't Fight It [Infectious Grooves]An aggressive funk-metal song with strange synth organs. If that's your thing, then it's pretty awesome in that aspect, but I like the Suicidal Tendencies stuff more. Still, it's an alright song.

6. Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right'80s-style thrash metal. Alternates between slower and hyper-fast parts. The album's title, "Year of the Cycos" is derived from a line in this song.

7. Big Man [Cyco Miko]Funky "wah-wahs", dirging metal guitar, and slap-bass. Basically a song singing about how "It takes a Big Man" to do all of this shit. This one has psychedelic elements to it, but otherwise, it could easily pass as a Suicidal Tendencies song.

8. Crazy But Proud [No Mercy]No Mercy is a thrash metal project made up of Mike Muir, Mike Clark, Ric Clayton, and Sal Troy. A very fast thrash song. A short, slow mid-section.

9. Cyco Vision (Live)A live performance of "Cyco Vision" from their 1999 album, "Freedumb". Very good song.

10. Beam Me Up [Cyco Miko]More funk-punk-metal fusion stuff. I'm pretty sure that, like, it's about Mike asking a bunch of aliens in a flying saucer to "beam him up" so he can get outta Earth and visit space. Either that or he's just really tripping on acid.